WO 2007/148301 describes a device for producing an airplane fuselage in which a lamination mandrel is delimited by an external surface that is defined by a rotational solid (in particular a cylinder) that is symmetrical and rotatable about an axis. The lamination mandrel is adapted to receive and support a band of impregnated synthetic material which is wound and deposited on the external surface of the mandrel in a lamination phase forming a plurality of overlapped layers. Said overlapped layers are subjected to a subsequent high temperature polymerisation process under vacuum in an autoclave for forming a structural section of the airplane (typically a tubular portion of fuselage).
The lamination mandrel comprises a plurality of sectors angularly spaced about the axis and held by guides which extend radially from a supporting grid structure. The sectors are mobile between an expanded, lamination position in which the sectors have greater rectilinear edges parallel to the axis arranged side by side and the external surfaces of the sectors opposite the axis that define the external surface and a contracted, disassembling position in which the sectors approach the axis moving away from the trace of the surface to allow extraction of the lamination mandrel from the structural section of the airplane at the end of the polymerisation process under vacuum.
In the expanded lamination position, it is essential for the sectors to maintain an angularly and axially stable position with respect to one another since any slight movements between the parts can irreparably alter the geometry of the structural section. For example, a lamination mandrel used for producing structural sections of large passenger airplanes must have low dimensional tolerances, below, for example, 0.5 mm.
The movement of each sector from the expanded, lamination position to the contracted, disassembling position is normally performed by means of a screw-nut screw actuating system driven by an electric motor positioned on the supporting grid structure.
Said screws are normally made of steel which, as is known, is a metal that expands considerably at high temperatures. At the temperatures normally reached in an autoclave (around 200-300 C.°), the screws normally used elongate by a few mm (e.g., approximately 10 mm), moving the sectors from the expanded, lamination position reached when cold to an expanded, position in which the external surface has a greater diameter than that of the external surface when cold again.
Said phenomenon results in the structural section of the airplane having dimensions not corresponding to the design dimensions. Therefore, the structural section cannot be used (for example because the structural section is not able to couple with other sections).
Thus, there is a need to produce a sector actuation system that solves the above-mentioned technical problem and is not sensitive to the thermal cycles performed in an autoclave.
The documents DE 195 25 023, JP 2002 361541, U.S. Pat. No. 4,802,558 and US 2010/155984 represent known prior art.